As discussed in the background section of U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,059 to Murphy et al., a number of systems have been developed to facilitate communication with or teaching of visually impaired individuals using a tactile recognition language, including Braille. For example, the TACK-TILES® Braille System, described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,880,384; 5,391,078; and 5,820,377, includes a system of blocks having Braille characters that may be interchangeably attached to a slate to create words, sentences, paragraphs and other expressions. However, as explained in U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,059, many visually impaired individuals do not have the opportunity to develop the problem solving and analytical skills, through the use of, e.g., puzzles or other games, as do non-visually impaired individuals.
Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,059 provides a puzzle for helping visually impaired individuals develop problem solving or analytical skills. The puzzle includes a supporting board on which a plurality of sliding pieces is disposed. One sliding piece is missing, thereby creating a blank space so that the remaining pieces can be aligned to form a particular sequence, such as arranging the pieces in a sequence to spell out the alphabet in Braille, or to spell a particular word in Braille. A tactilely recognizable region is disposed on each of the pieces, which may be a Braille character.
However, while it may be beneficial as a development tool for the visually impaired, the puzzle disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,059 generally requires the user to understand Braille in order to solve the puzzle and generally enjoy using the puzzle. Moreover, each piece of the puzzle contains a certain Braille character, for example a number or a letter, and thus solving the puzzle comprises putting the Braille characters into a certain specific order to spell out a word or other sequence. As such, the puzzle requires a certain understanding of language in order to be completed and enjoyed. Furthermore, there is no solution key provided so that a user can confirm that the puzzle has been properly completed.
Thus, there remains a need in the field for a tactile slide puzzle that can be completed by a visually impaired individual and that does not require an understanding of language or Braille. There is a further need in the field for such a tactile slide puzzle that can be completed based only on the tactile feel provided on a number of slidable pieces. Moreover, there remains a need in the field for a tactile slide puzzle that includes a mechanism for confirming that the puzzle has been properly completed.